Rape charge dropped, statute of limitations ran out on Bridgeport man

Published 10:09 pm, Wednesday, May 7, 2014

Osvaldo Muniz had his charge dropped while making an appearance with his attorney, Howard Ehring, before Judge Richard Comerford at state Superior Court in Stamford Tuesday May 6, 2014.

Osvaldo Muniz had his charge dropped while making an appearance with his attorney, Howard Ehring, before Judge Richard Comerford at state Superior Court in Stamford Tuesday May 6, 2014.

Photo: Norwalk Police Department

Rape charge dropped, statute of limitations ran out on Bridgeport man

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STAMFORD -- A Bridgeport man whose DNA led to his arrest in a 25-year-old Norwalk rape and kidnapping had the rape charge dismissed by a Stamford judge because the statute of limitations on the charge, which at the time of the sexual assault was five years, had elapsed.

Ehring had filed the motion to dismiss the rape charge in February because the statute of limitations on the charge had run out in August 1993.

In his motion to dismiss the charge, Ehring said, "There is no basis or cause to justify the bringing or continuing of such prosecution of this particular charge since the alleged conduct took place back in 1988 and therefore is beyond the statute of limitations of five years."

The kidnapping charge at the time of the Aug. 4, 1988, crime, however, did not have a statute of limitations, allowing that charge to stand.

"I won the battle but lost the war because the kidnapping the charge has no statute of limitations and he can do up to a 25 years in jail on that charge," Ehring said after the early afternoon hearing. "At Mr. Muniz's age, that will be a tough road to hoe."

According to his criminal record, Muniz has 37 convictions and in 1980 was convicted of first-degree sexual assault. Six days after the sexual assault in Norwalk, he was charged and later convicted of third-degree assault in Norwalk. On Aug. 22 of the same year, he was charged and later convicted of unlawful restraint and third-degree assault in Bridgeport.

In February 1999, a DNA swab was taken from Muniz by the Department of Correction, which also provided Norwalk police with his prison record showing he was out at the time of the rape.

On Aug. 4, 1988, around 5:30 a.m. a woman reported to police that she had been dragged out of her friend's Wolfpit Avenue apartment with a butcher knife to her throat and raped by an unknown man, a seven-page arrest affidavit said.

The woman told police the man held his hand over her mouth, dragged her to a nearby yard and assaulted her with a knife in his hand. The woman said she was too afraid to scream and thought she would be killed by the rapist and did not move until about 10 minutes after he fled. She rang doorbell after doorbell until a resident answered and called police that morning.